An account of the wildlife I come across and hopefully pictures to bring the account closer

Thursday, 9 April 2009

Thursday 9th.April 2009

Well , I'm glad today's weather wasn't that of Tuesday and Wednesday . It has been damp and miserable right up to mid afternoon , when it sort of brightened . Fencing in today's conditions would have been uncomfortable and dangerous , so I'm glad we finished yesterday , late afternoon .

The weather did give one advantage , a good look at who was coming to the feeders in the garden . The most surprising thing was that what I thought was the odd one or two Redpolls seen in the garden , turned out to be a flock of definately 8 , and possibly a dozen . All morning I could hear what is described in my book as 'a buzzing nasal trill' and I think that describes it perfectly . I saw at least six in next door's garden feeding on seed heads , all the while buzzing to keep in contact . Eventually , a male came to the feeder , and I got a shot from the back bedroom window . With that , I went down to the car port , and got a shot of a female - just before the camera batteries went flat . It was the last photo chance of the day , but I think she was taking 'feeding in the garden' a bit far , when she used the back of one of the patio chairs to sit on .

The Blut Tit nest is still ongoing , and apart from the odd beakful of hairy type material , she was also bringing feathery type materials , so the nest might be nearing completion .

Other visitors today included ,

a male Chaffinch , proving he can hang in there with the best of them ,

a male Dunnock , surveying all he owns , a male Greenfinch , checking no one is looking before he feeds ,

and a Goldfinch , wondering , what that lens is doing there .

Down at the pond , the majority of the frogspwan has turned into tadpoles , and the majority of the jelly , having being eaten by the newly emerged .

Down the bottom of the garden in the wilder patch , Green Alkenet-Pentaglottis sempervirens , often found on waste land , is in flower . A superb little blue flower with a white eye , like most of the rest of the Borage family. Finally , I know in this world that we live in , it is not 'PC' to say anyone is 'backward' , but I can't think of any other way to describe this Squirrel .